Moretti
Another Year Later
The check-in desk for the private airport has a single woman behind it. The hangar is spacious and deserted, with no one else preparing to board flights.
If Vanessa would stop dragging her feet, I could hand over our passports, sign the paperwork, and get us on the waiting aircraft.
However, my wife is never docile, and she purposely twists out of my hold from where my arm rested around her shoulder.
“What are we doing here, Emory?” she asks, her brow furrowing.
I love it when she calls me by my first name, and it happens so much more frequently these days. The only downside is that she has a tendency to call me by it when she’s annoyed with me.
“It’s a surprise. I’ve already told you as much.” I smirk, wrapping my hand around her hip. “We deserve a vacation.”
“Where are Hawk and Magnum?” she asks, tapping the toe of her high heel against the concrete floor. “They better be coming with us.”
The squealing of tires causes me to turn toward the open wall of the hangar, and I frown as I recognize the vehicle.
“Well, shit,” I whisper as the SUV comes to a stop.
I’m going to fire Mario’s ass for driving them here.
Hawk and Magnum spill from the vehicle, and I panic.
I never fucking panic.
“Do me a favor and go check us in, darling.” I give Vanessa a gentle shove toward the desk. “I need to ensure they don’t forget their bags in their haste.”
“Oh yeah, this isn’t shady or anything.” Vanessa laughs, shakes her head, and takes off.
I stride toward my packmates, preparing to tell them to get lost. “You can have the next vacation. This is mine.”
“You selfish son of a bitch.” Magnum continues forward, slamming his fist into my jaw.
My face flies to the side, and my lip stings at the edge like he might have busted it.
I growl, pulling my gun and aiming at his forehead. “That was uncalled for.”
“And trying to steal Vanessa away right after she announced she finally stopped her birth control wasn’t?” Magnum snaps back, completely unconcerned with the gun barrel pressing against his forehead. “Her heat is set to hit in days, Moretti. You’re such an asshole.”
Hawk just frowns, like he’s disappointed in me.
Magnum shoves my arm, and I put my gun away before Vanessa can see me threatening to shoot her boyfriend.
Fine.
He’s her husband now too.
“We had an agreement, gentlemen,” I say, swiping at my bloody lip. “Our first child will be an heir to my family.”
“You know what kinda bullshit that can cause down the line,” Hawk says. “And if I see you treating any of our kids differently, I’ll kill you myself.”
My jaw falls as I take a step back. “I would never.”
“Nah, if that were true, you wouldn’t be worried about whose sperm gets to hit the egg,” Magnum says, and I have the sudden urge to slam my fist into his face.
“I lost my mother and one of my fathers. The other won’t leave Russia. Is it truly wrong to want to pass my family’s legacy on to a biological heir?” I ask before I can stop myself.
“I’m torn on that,” Hawk says, finally sounding less angry. “In theory, no. I can even understand where you’re coming from, but I think you have to be careful. That can lead to favoritism and an us-versus-them mentality. I won’t let you do that to our kids.”
I fucking hate when Hawk says something rational, and it makes me contemplative. I clearly only had one biological father, but both my fathers claimed me as theirs. They loved and educated me equally.
“What if the first baby is a girl?” Magnum asks. “What then? Are you going to keep trying until you get a son?”
I frown.
Is he asking if I would love a daughter any less? Because the answer to that is absolutely fucking not.
“If we have a girl, we’ll teach her to be the most ruthless mafia princess Boston has ever seen.” I nod to where Mario idles in the SUV. “Get your shit. We’re headed to the Alps.”
Magnum snorts. “Damn. I guessed wrong. I packed for a beach vacation.”
Hawk nods. “Me too.”
“Hell no.” I chuckle. “I wanted an excuse to cuddle. It’ll be so cold, we won’t leave the villa. You’ll have to shop as we go. By the way, was it Mario who ratted me out?”
Magnum laughs, shaking his head. “Nah, Vanessa pinged us her location and told us to hurry.”
“Of course she did.”
I’m not shocked.
That woman has kept me on my toes since day one, and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon.
Ten Months Later
Vanessa made us wait until the babies were born to find out if we were having boys or girls or one of each.
I was sure all of Magnum’s and Hawk’s taunting meant we were going to have girls.
We ended up with twin boys.
Arkadiy and Luca, named after my fathers.
They’re perfect.
I’m a little terrified of how vicious my system is convinced I need to become to protect our family. I’ve always been unhinged when it comes to ensuring Vanessa’s safety, but I’m willing to become an entirely different kind of monster to protect our boys.
We have no clue who hit the DNA jackpot—we all left a fair amount of cum in our sweet little omega following that first heat without her birth control in the mix.
They both have blue eyes and what seems to be dark blond hair.
Magnum and I are both blond with blue eyes, but genetics are weird, so that means nothing. What they said to me that day in the hangar really hit home.
Watching my sons come into the world, I was struck by just how ridiculous my thought process was. If the boys are genetically Hawk’s or Magnum’s, I couldn’t care less. They’re equally mine, even if it is genetically impossible.
I rock Luca as Vanessa breastfeeds Arkadiy. She’s not convinced she wants to stick with nursing long-term, but she said she might as well see how it goes. Whatever she decides, we’ll be respectful of her choice.
Formula would allow us to help with late-night feedings, but if she wants to breastfeed, we’ll support her through that too.
She’s next to me on the hospital bed, and I cradle Luca in one hand as I loop the other arm around her shoulder. She rests her head on my pec, and my chest flutters.
“I love you, darling,” I murmur, kissing the top of her head.
“Love you too,” she says, her contentment spilling into the bond. “God, what is breastfeeding doing to me? I swear, if Magnum doesn’t hurry back with my food, I might actually eat someone’s face off. I deserve all the cheeseburgers.”
“That, you do,” I agree. “Would you like me to run down to the cafeteria or check the vending machines?”
Hawk stepped out to call his mom, but he’ll be back soon. If my hands weren’t full, I’d text him to stop at the nurse’s station to ask for the snacks the nurse mentioned they keep on hand for just this kind of emergency.
“No, let’s pray Mag gets back soon. I don’t want to risk both of them crying as soon as I’m alone,” Vanessa says, running her finger over Arkadiy’s cheek. “Two babies at once is twice as terrifying.”
“We’ll manage just fine, and luckily, you have three of us to split shifts.” I study Luca’s face as he pushes his lips together.
It is scary, but it’s also exciting.
I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the six of us.